jBackend Community is the lite version of jBackend available for free, no subscription required. It provides all the basic features to integrate Joomla content with mobile apps, syndication networks, affiliate networks and any external system, and it is mainly intended to give a chance to test jBackend capabilities, to develop and test new modules, and to provide some basic REST API integration features to a Joomla site.

When the upgrade to the full jBackend version is required, it is possible to install the full jBackend package over the Community version. The two versions share the same data tables and settings, and the upgrade process will preserve the configuration and all existing data.

The Community version is completely free, but doesn't provide the full functionalities available for jBackend. Here's a comparison matrix between jBackend Community and jBackend:

Features

jBackend Community

jBackend

Extensible through plugins to increase API and support any Joomla extension

(2 plugins in the package)

(3 plugins in the package, 7+ includedwith the subscription)

Support for publishing of multiple endpoints, each with its specific settings

The basic extension package includes the jBackend component, that provides the general infrastructure for endpoints, and plugins support system. Also the following plugins are already included in the basic package:

Since version 3, jBackend introduced support for push notifications for Android and iOS, providing all needed functions to manage multiple mobile apps, to register devices and to send scheduled push notifications. The following video shows how to use jBackend to create a new application, to call the push register service to register a device, and the schedule and trigger a push notification.

The Push Module is implemented with the plg_jbackend_push plugin. It provides functions related to mobile push notifications for iOS and Android. Here is the list of supported methods.

Register

The register function must be called by mobile apps each time they get a notification token from the push service (e.g. APNs or FCM) to register the device on jBackend. Registration is needed to send push notifications to the app on the registered device.

Notes

Supported platform codes are 0=Generic, 1=Android, 2=iOS.

It is possible to associate an existing Joomla user to the device with the user_id param. If the plugin option Require user email is enabled, it is also needed to include the user_email field, and the email must match with the registered email address for the user with the specified user_id.

On iOS platform the app can also send (optionally) its notification settings for alert (ios_alert), badge (ios_badge), and sound (ios_sound). These values can be used to filter target devices when sending push notifications from jBackend.

Scheduler

The scheduler function must be called on a regular basis (e.g. from a crontab) to trigger the sending of scheduled push notifications.

jBackend is a Joomla extension that gives you all the power of Joomla CMS through an extensible and pluggable set of REST API. With these API you can access to all site's contents and features, and use Joomla as a backend system for smartphone and mobile apps, syndication networks, external websites, and provide web services for any external system.

Furthermore jBackend provides a full push notifications platform for iOS and Android mobile apps. It allows to define multiple apps, to register devices for each app, and to schedule push notifications sending on registered devices, filtered by app and platform type.

Features

Extensible through plugins to increase API and support any Joomla extension;

Support for publishing of multiple endpoints, each with its specific settings;

Each API Key can have a max daily requests limit and an expiration date;

Each API Key can be targeted on separate endpoints;

Access control is compliant with integrated ACL;

Support for REST compliant requests;

JSON format for responses;

Support for push notifications on iOS (APNs) and Android (GCM);

Custom payload for push notifications;

Scheduled sending of push notifications;

Push notifications can be create and scheduled via API call;

Push notifications can be targeted on selected users or groups.

The basic extension package includes the jBackend component, that provides the general infrastructure for endpoints, notifications, and plugins support system. Also the following plugins are already included in the basic package:

Additional plugins can be downloaded from here and installed separately. Before to buy a subscription check here if what you need is already available, or submit a support request.

It is also possible to give it a try downloading and installing jBackend Community for free, a lite version created to give a chance to test jBackend capabilities, to develop and test new modules, and to provide some basic REST API integration features to a Joomla site.